Today, we’d like to introduce you to Peter Karpick.
Hi Peter, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It took me a while to get to where I am now, but I wouldn’t change much! I’ve met some super creative people along the way, and every job has been a learning experience. I graduated from SCAD in Savannah in 1994 with a major in illustration. After school, I moved to Massachusetts with my girlfriend, with whom I have been happily married for 27 years.
It was a bit of a rough start. I tried to get into book and magazine illustration, which at that time meant taking the train into Boston and lugging my portfolio around to various publishers and agencies. After a few small freelance jobs, I eventually found a job illustrating jewelry for a company in Attleboro, MA. I was drawing the jewelry samples with Rapidographs for their catalog. While there I met one of my best friends, he was a model maker. We made the job interesting by collaborating on collages we would make with the photocopier and old magazines.
After working there for a while, a neighbor at a custom glassware shop told me they were looking for a designer. I went to the interview, and 100% lied when the guy asked me if I had computer experience. He offered me the job, so I spent the next two weeks sneaking into the computer lab at RISD and teaching myself Adobe Illustrator.
While working at that job I honed my computer skills and used the facilities there to start making stickers and burning my screens to make t-shirts. That led to my next job. I worked at a t-shirt screen printing place that had a small in-house art department. There, I designed t-shirts for many fun brands, including WuWear, Vans, Puma, Adidas, FUBU, and more. I loved that job—it was just super fun making cool designs all day.
From there, I got sucked into the agency world, 1st at a couple of places in Providence, Blackfish Design, then a shop called Shazamm. That job was pretty rad; they let me build a mini ramp in the office! We also did a lot of work and photography for the Xgames. It was super fun taking photos at those events. One of the highlights for me was standing at the top of the mega ramp. It was way scarier than it looks on TV!
After that, my wife and I moved back down to Atlanta, where I worked at design agencies around town before landing a gig at Adult Swim. I was Creative Director there, managing a team of writers, developers, animators, project managers, and designers. My work and ideas extended to all facets of the network, including site and app design, social content and strategy, live events, live show development, and brand positioning. Unfortunately, in 2021, our whole department was shuttered.
After that I worked a short stint as a Design Director at a small local film studio as well as started a skateboard wax company called Shred Heads. I’ve been skateboarding since I was twelve, I have a good crew of dudes I skate with weekly, and help organize the Big Trouble in Little Five Points Skate event.
Right now, I’m staying busy freelancing, creating all kinds of stuff, including illustrations, websites, graphics, posters, motion graphics, and animations. You can check out my work at tendersituations.com.
In addition to all the boring career stuff, I’m lucky to have two amazing sons. The oldest is going to school at Auburn and is also a talented photographer. www.ethankarpick.com. My younger son is really into customizing his car and video editing. He is set to graduate high school this year. We also have two goofball dogs.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I think the hardest thing for me to learn was how to be confident when talking about my art or designs. When I first started working at agencies I would get really nervous when presenting work or making pitches.
I remember presenting a design project to Brown University at my first agency job and sweating bullets the entire time. It’s the classic tortured artist combined with imposter syndrome. A lot of under-the-gun practice and experience, as well as attending Toastmasters meetings for a while, helped me get past that hurdle.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I love drawing and painting, especially drawing and painting detailed weirdo skulls and insects.
Most of my art is a stream of consciousness, so it doesn’t always end up how I’d like, but when looking back on art from previous years, those are some of my favorite pieces. I also enjoy creating collages by hand, cutting and pasting scraps from old magazines, sculpture, and stop-motion animations. I find myself constantly creating.
Right now, I’m working on a diptych show poster for one of my favorite bands. I’m super excited about that one.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
I’ve always had a fascination with nature, especially insects and reptiles. When I was younger my dad used to take me on day trips with the Nature Science Center in the town I grew up in. These outings typically involved exploring the diverse landscapes of upstate South Carolina, traversing through forests and along rivers.
One time there was an older guy on the hike with us, looking back he was probably only 17 or 18 haha, he was collecting spiders in jars for some reason. As we flipped over rocks, he started gathered black widows, handling them with his bare hands and placing them into the jars. I’m guessing I was 7 or 8 at the time and I just thought that was the coolest, craziest thing I had ever seen anyone do.
Fast forward to my early days of employment in Atlanta. One day, I found a huge black widow in my yard, so I decided to put it in a jar on my desk at work. People were freaked out! One morning, I sat down and noticed the spider looked a lot smaller than usual. Apparently, it had babies over the weekend, and the majority of them had escaped out of the air holes I had punched in the jar lid. Good times.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.tendersituations.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/trustzabo/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karpick/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/trustzabo
